Ted Phillips likely moving away from Chicago Bears football operations

The changes at Halas Hall seem to be widespread and ongoing.  Current speculation is that George McCaskey is thinking of a different direction for the entire front office:

#Bears indeed considering the #Cubs model, with Ted Phillips helming the business side, and an equivalent football president next to him.

— Dan Bernstein (@dan_bernstein) December 29, 2014

There has been some speculation for a while that if sweeping change were made it would be in this manner. The Chicago Cubs appear to be setting themselves up for future success by creating silos for the Bears, and this would be of a similar idea.

Ted Phillips has been with the Bears since 1984, when he started as the controller.  He then moved up the ranks, going to Director of finance, then became vice president of operations in the early 90s. Finally, he became CEO & President in 1999. He was instrumental in the use of the search firm that brought the team Jerry Angelo.

Fan speculation has long been that many of the Bears front office struggles come from an accountant making the decisions, and now that ownership has a more vocal leader in George, that could change. By most accounts, he's a solid businessman, but his fingerprints will no longer be attached to the on-field product.

UPDATE 5:30 p.m. EST:

At the press conference with George McCaskey and Ted Phillips it was announced that Phillips will be retaining his current title and position but they will hire Ernie Accorsi as a consultant for the GM search. For much more on that and the rest of the press conference check out the highlights thread here.